Day 15 of Malaysia - How you be talking lah!

This last week is where we seem to be slowing down and taking our time with everything now. Not much time is left till I hop back on a plane to NZ, but now I think all my budget is spent, and all the stuff I've wanted to find shopping I mainly have.
Everything is just more relaxed now, and we take the plans as they come.
(Originally the big plan for today was to go for one of the night markets - but it began to be stormy once again late this afternoon so no one wanted to walk around when it's wet.)

Today I went to the local mall where we did some shopping at Jusco, and ate lunch at this place called Secret Recipe they have here in Malaysia. Now that Swensens (this fantastic ice-cream place which had this famous sundae called "The Earthquake" which can be seen here) seems to have disappeared from KL, Secret Recipe may be one of the better dessert shops around.

Unfortunately their service is totally crap. The waiters don't really seem to pay attention to you, no matter how many times you wave at them or call at them. Waiting for my chicken curry puff (that I had to order in replacement for the shepherd's pie that wasn't available) seem to take over 20 minutes - and this is for a 6RM curry puff that is about the size of your hand. Ridiculous. (Thankfully it tasted pretty good.) And they just aren't organised - they almost gave one of our dishes to another table.
And stupidly enough when we ordered our dessert from the display window, it took another 15 minutes to get a slice of cheesecake - and the cakes are already displayed to be cut in the window. I don't know what they were trying to do in between cutting the cake and serving it - couldn't have been baking it cause it was already done for them.

Rant about the bad service aside, I love cheesecakes and they make pretty decent ones at Secret Recipe.

Today's cheesecake was a 'White and Dark Chocolate Cheeze' (I don't know why they spell it with a Z, and sorry for the unfocused shot - I took it with my cellphone.)
It was pretty filling to eat - not as fantastic as the 'Cheeze Choc' I had the other day while at Petaling Street etc. But still it was pretty nice to indulge in.

Anyway, the rest of the afternoon I spent looking at books in a bookstore, trying to think of ideas for my digital photo assignment (yes I still think about uni while on holiday.) While at the bookstore (think it was called Popular) I stumbled across a book which gave phrases and dictionary meanings in Singlish aka Singaporian English.
Flicking through the book made me realise all the phrases I had heard, and never really knowing what they all meant and how they truly speak. It's all quite fascinating as a foreigner looking in.

Singlish is pretty close to the Manglish that goes round here. So I thought I'd try and share some Manglish phrases I hear, and what they mean (to me anyway.)

The most common word that's used around here is the word lah.Lah can be used at the end of every sentence, as if you're drawing a massive full stop or exclamation to emphasise your sentence.
eg. "You eat that lah!" - "You should finish that dish!"
That sentence gets tossed around a bit, specially when trying to deal with leftovers and people who are not wanting to be responsible for clearing the food on the plates.

Lor is another one, much like lah, but for trying to prove something.
eg.
Person 1: "Here can drive to the city?"
Person 2: "Can lor." - "It can be done." or "Yeah, duh."

Nah here doesn't always mean the word 'No' here. It is also used when you are trying to get someone to take something but they don't necessarily want it.
eg. "Nah, I hand to you" - "Here, you can take this."

I think one of the most confusing Manglish words is the word what (or "wat")
They seem to add it at the end of sentences, as if expecting the rest to be filled in by the person they're trying to have a conversation with. I've been really bad at picking this up...
eg.
Person 1: "We didn't go eat what".
Me: "What?"
Person 1: "Never mind lah."

So there is your (very) basic 101 class in Manglish. Tune in for the next lesson where I try to analyse what sort of road rules they have here (they have none...) :P

You May Also Like

0
comments

The girl.

NZ blogger in the middle of life, love, the world and all that inhabits it. A web addict for radio by day; a web addict in general by night. Writing about the world, travels, food, pop culture and lifestyle.